quarta-feira, 24 de julho de 2019

The main reason the Saudi blogger was
assaulted and humiliated during his visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque was incitement.

It came mainly from the
Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), a group affiliated with Fatah, and
that has been described by some in the West, and even in Israel, as
"moderate" and "pragmatic."

Spitting in the face of a
Saudi blogger and cursing him as an "animal" and "Zionist"
is not behavior conducive to luring cash from his state -- or any other
self-respecting entity -- that refuses to be slapped in the face while
providing handouts.

The moment Palestinians
noticed Saudi blogger Mohamed Saud at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem,
they demonstrated to him how they treat their Arab brothers, hurling insults
and spitting at Saud. What did the Saudi visitor do to deserve this humiliation
and physical abuse? Pictured: Mohamed Saud shields himself from Palestinians
spitting at him in Jerusalem, on July 22. (Image source: Twitter video
screenshot)

When Saudi blogger Mohamed
Saud arrived at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on July 22, he apparently thought
he would peacefully pray at the site before proceeding to tour the markets of
the Old City of Jerusalem.

Moreover, Saud apparently
believed that as an Arab Muslim, he would be warmly welcomed by his Palestinian
brothers.

He was wrong.

The moment Palestinians
noticed the Saudi blogger at one of Islam's holiest sites, they demonstrated to
him how they treat their Arab brothers.

Videos that surfaced on social
media showed a number of Palestinians hurling insults and
spitting at Saud. One Palestinian later threw a plastic chair at him as he left
the compound.

What did the Saudi visitor do
to deserve this humiliation and physical abuse? What crime did he commit to
be denounced as
"garbage," "animal," and "traitor" and
"Zionist?"

The unfortunate Saudi's crime
-- in the eyes of the Palestinians -- was that he was part of a delegation of
Arab journalists invited to visit Israel. Such visits are often condemned by
Palestinians as actions that lead to promoting normalization between Arabs and
Israel. The Palestinians are strongly opposed to any form of normalization with Israel and
consider it tantamount to treason. They are afraid that if the Arabs normalize
their relations with Israel, they will stop caring about the Palestinians. The
Palestinian position is that there can be no normalization between Israel and
the Arabs before the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved.

This humiliating treatment was
far from an isolated incident. The moment Palestinian media organizations
learned about the arrival of the journalists to Israel, they rushed to issue
statements denouncing the delegation and calling on Arabs and Muslims to
blacklist the visitors.

The Palestinian Journalists
Syndicate (PJS), a body dominated by loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas's
ruling Fatah faction, was the first to come out against the Arab journalists
and accuse them of promoting normalization with Israel.

The PJS and other Palestinian
media organizations called on the Federation of Arab Journalists to hold
the journalists to account and add them to its "blacklist." This
order means that the journalists who visited Israel would be expelled from any
union or organization to which they belonged. It also means that the visiting
journalists would be boycotted by other Arab journalists and media
organizations and refused employment.

The main reason the Saudi
blogger was assaulted and humiliated during his visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque was
incitement. It came mainly from the PJS, a group affiliated with Fatah, and
that has been described by some in the West, and even in Israel, as
"moderate" and "pragmatic."

Recently, the same
Fatah-affiliated PJS warned Palestinian journalists against accepting an
invitation by US presidential envoy Jason Greenblatt to visit the White House.

In June, the PJS condemned Bahrain for inviting Israeli journalists to
cover the US-led "Prosperity to Peace" economic workshop in Bahrain.

Rami Alshrafi, one of the
heads of the PJS in the Gaza Strip, threatened that his group would publicly
shame any journalist who engaged in activities that could be looked upon as
normalization with Israel. "We will publish a list of all those Arab
journalists who take any normalization moves with the occupation state of
Israel," he said. "We will publish a blacklist of all those Arab
journalistic organizations and journalists who host Israeli journalists."

The PJS had, a few years ago,
also initiated a boycott of Israeli journalists and threatened to boycott any
Palestinian official that gives an interview to the Israeli media. In an
interview, PJS chairman Nasser Abu Bakr, a former journalist with Agence
France-Presse (AFP), explained that the decision was taken after his
friends and he "reached the conclusions that no interview of [Palestinian]
officials [to Israeli media] serves the Palestinian cause."

Bizarrely, while Abbas's syndicate
has been repeatedly calling for a boycott of Israeli journalists, he continues
to meet every now and then with representatives of the
Israeli media. Needless to say, the PJS and its members have never condemned
Abbas for violating their ban. They know that the day they utter a word against
the Palestinian Authority president, they will either lose funding from the
Palestinian government or be thrown into prison -- or worse.

First, the Palestinian
journalists incited the public against their Israeli colleagues and called for
boycotting them. Next, they incited the public against Palestinian journalists
who dared to meet with Israelis. Now, it is the turn of non-Palestinian Arab
journalists to feel the heat.

Instead of welcoming the Arab
journalists into Jerusalem and inviting them to visit Ramallah, the de facto
capital of the Palestinian leadership, the Palestinians chose to insult and
physically assault their Saudi visitor. As if that is not enough, they are also
demanding that Arabs and Muslims punish the blogger and his colleagues for
allegedly promoting normalization with Israel.

The assault on the Saudi
blogger does not bode well for the future of Palestinian relations with Saudi
Arabia and other Arab countries.

Several Saudis took to social
media to express their disgust over the attack on Saud. "I can't
understand the wakaha (audacity) of the Palestinians who
expressed joy over the assault," said Saudi
citizen Ibrahim Al-Sulieman.

Another Saudi, Abdullah, commented:
"Although [Saud] represents only himself, the Palestinians exposed their
hatred towards him only because he is from Saudi Arabia."

While Israeli government
officials were quick to denounce the "cruel" attack on the Saudi
blogger, Palestinian leaders failed to condemn the incident, a response likely
to aggravate tensions between the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia.

There is one additional reason
the Palestinians do not want to see Saudis at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound: The
Palestinians are probably afraid that Saudi Arabia is seeking the role of
"custodian of holy sites" in Jerusalem, a role presently held by Jordan. Both Jordan and the Palestinians are
believed to be strongly opposed to granting the Saudis any role in administering
the holy sites in the city. A monopoly over the mosque brings them, they
believe, prestige and respect in the Arab and Islamic countries.

The assault on the Saudi
blogger is yet another sign of mounting tensions between the Palestinians and
some Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia. According to a few accounts, the
Saudis have been launching a crackdown on Palestinians living in the kingdom by
arresting and harassing dozens of them.

Reports about a rapprochement between several Arab
states and Israel are worrying the Palestinians; they say they feel that their
Arab bothers are turning their back on them. This sense of abandonment was
reinforced by the refusal of Saudi Arabia and some Arab states to heed calls by
the Palestinians to boycott the economic workshop in Bahrain.

A recent public opinion poll showed
that 80% of surveyed Palestinians view the participation of Arab countries in
the workshop as an abandonment of the Palestinian cause.

In a way, the Palestinians are
right: their Arab brothers are indeed starting to turn their backs on them. The
Palestinians might wish to ask themselves the important question: why this is
happening? Here is a hint: Spitting in the face of a Saudi blogger and cursing
him as an "animal" and "Zionist" is not behavior conducive
to luring cash from his state -- or any other self-respecting entity -- that
refuses to be slapped in the face while providing handouts.